13 comments:

georgem
said...

Yes, a very smooth and lucid performance from a media-savvy Archbish. Not to take anything away from him, the questioning was very soft. There again, he seems the sort not to be interrupted. He always comes over as the voice of sweet reason. What took the hierarchy so long to break cover when the Church of E&W has spokesman such as he? I was up with the sun (small s) this morning and heard an earlier piece with the correspondent in Rome. He opined that the Pope seemed not be getting the support from inside the Vatican that one might expect.Is the BBC having second thoughts about its hysterical coverage? Well, it's never too late to repent. The trouble is that the amount of mud slung at the Pope will be very difficult to hose off with just one example of balanced reporting.Perhaps the BBC might be more diligent in giving coverage to the rest of what the Pope has said in Africa.Reporter John Allen made the point that no such storm had engulfed the Pope during his visit and he has been greeted with great love and warmth.Those of us in "developed" countries need to look nearer to home and take stock of our patronising and colonialist view of Africa.

It was certainly a better piece than many we've heard during the week, but neither the interviewer or the Archbishop really covered the fact that the media are condom obsessed. Whatever the failings in the Vatican, the media just focus on the one issue ad nauseam, and however good the Vatican may become, the media only want one story, and they really control the presentation.

Peter Smith has already sanctioned the starving and dehydrating to death of people in hospital beds. He did this under the guise of fighting for peoples' right to live. Today, people are quietly being euthanaised thanks to His lack of leadership.

Today he has sanctioned, by the authority of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, the death of a nine month old baby boy.

Exactly what are we meant to be celebrating here ? Someone who can handle the media ? He's done that for sure: Look at the lack of outcry at the new depths to which we in the UK have stooped today.

I'd have said some prayers for the poor man might be more in order. Not to mention some for the poor distraught parents who are watching their baby son die tonight.

No parent could look at the tragic circumstances of the perilously short life of OT and not mourn.The advances in technology are both a blessing and a curse. It saves the life of both prem and severely disabled children who otherwise would have died naturally.And it places an acute and unbearable dilemma for both parents and medics. It was technology that kept OT alive. Sanctioning death by starvation and thirst can surely never be condoned. But OT could not breathe alone.To say that OT experienced pleasure must also admit that his little body could experience dreadful pain.Arthur Hugh Clough wrote in the mid-19th century: ‘Thou shalt not kill; but need not strive officiously to keep alive.’I think that was the position on which the comment was made. How can loving parents let their children go? Most will never have to face this terrible situation, thank God.On Mothering Sunday our prayers must be especially for OT's mother and his father in their searing distress. OT has gone into God's care and may flights of angels sing him to his rest.

+Peter Smith is certainly media savvy but would Our Lord have replied like this?. I don't think so - and that's the point. Our Lord told us to "proclaim the gospel boldly.." and in all our speech to be "ye, ye, nay, nay". In everyday langauge that means be plain in speech and manner. +Peter Smith's replies are certainly soothing but he isn't being plain and he isn't being bold either as far as I'm concerned.

To me the most lovable thing about Our Lord is his utter fearlessness in saying what had to be said. That's what makes him such an attractive figure. The day we start aping the world and start acting like a lot of spin doctors is the day the gospel starts dying out. Of all people a Bishop should know this. We don't need more politicians, we need more Catholics.

Mafeking is absolutely right. We need Bishops with spine! Fearless in their proclamation of the Gospels and Truth! What we don't need is 'politicised clergy' who mealy-mouth their way through interviews with plenty of spin and buzz-words but say nothing!

Please Papa Benedict give us a man that will be a true leader and a faithful shepherd for his flock.

Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia, et ubi ecclesia vita eterna

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